Eagle County

Yesterday, elected officials in Eagle County initially approved plans for a controversial subdivision in the midvalley. The Fields is a 19-acre property, near the intersection of Highway 82 and Valley Road.

Eagle County Commissioners are getting together to talk about big issues, and they want to do that in the Roaring Fork Valley. Housing, climate change, and early childhood development are the first topics for what are being called “Community Conversations.”

Planning commissioners cast votes against the sizable Tree Farm proposal on Thursday night. That decision took hours as commissioners weighed their concerns. It was a unanimous recommendation of denial by the Roaring Fork Valley Regional Planning Commission.

The proposed Tree Farm development has gotten a lot of attention in the last several months, and it’s not even in the final review yet. On Thursday night, planning commissioners responsible for what’s developed in the El Jebel area will consider whether to support the project.

Polls in Garfield, Eagle and Pitkin counties closed about 30 minutes ago. Now it’s up to the clerks to tally up the votes, with final results expected between 10:30 and midnight.

Pitkin County Clerk Janice Vos Caudill reports that as of 6 p.m., just over 5,100 ballots were received, and 360 individualls voted in person at the Aspen Jewish Community Center, totaling 455 in-person voters.

When it comes to health, communities in the Midvalley struggle with binge drinking and, just slightly, with obesity. Public health officials are sharing results of a survey with local governments. Jordana Sabella is the Public Health Planner for Pitkin and Western Eagle Counties. She spoke with Aspen Public Radio’s Marci Krivonen.

Jordana Sabella is Public Health Planner for Pitkin and Western Eagle Counties.

Officials in the mid valley are continuing to look at a major development proposal near Whole Foods. The controversial Tree Farm plan could mean as many as 400 hundred residential units and more than a 130,000 square feet in commercial development. But if the property was a few football field lengths to the southeast, it would go through a whole different set of requirements.

Eagle County’s largest ever investment in renewable energy will be for solar power. The county is buying enough energy to offset about a third of its electricity use. The purchase of three million dollars for one megawatt, is for solar power created by a large solar panel farm in Carbondale. That’s at the Clean Energy Collective’s Sunnyside Ranch, which recently opened.

Pitkin county staff will explore using rooftops and other government property to install solar panels. County commissioners this week approved a funding request for a feasibility study.

The county will spend between $15,000 and $25,000 to locate beneficial sites for solar and find out how much electricity could be generated. Right now, the county consumes 1.3 megawatt hours per year and it’s not offset by any significant renewable efforts. County Engineer G.R. Fielding says now is a good time to pursue solar.